Important day for Muslims, says Owaisi on SC ruling on AMU

Hyderabad, Oct (IANS) All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi has hailed the Supreme Court order on the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University saying it is an important day for Muslims of India.

The seven-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court ruled 4:3 to overturn a key 1967 judgment which removed minority status of AMU.

The Hyderabad MP posted on X that the 1967 judgment had rejected the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University when in fact it was. He cited Article 30 of the Constitution of India which states that minorities have the right to establish and administer their educational institutions in a manner that they deem fit.

Stating that the right of minorities to educate themselves has been upheld, Owaisi congratulated all students and faculty of AMU. “It does not matter if the University was established before the Constitution or if it was set up by a law of the govt. It is a minority institution if it was established by minorities. All the arguments of the BJP were rejected,” the AIMIM chief wrote.

“The BJP has opposed minority status for AMU for all these years. What is it going to do now? It has made every effort to attack AMU and Jamia, and our right to even run madrasas. BJP must introspect and go for a course correction,” the MP added.

He suggested that the Modi government take this judgment in its stride and support AMU as it is also a central university. “Jamia gets Rs 3 lakh per student, AMU gets Rs 3.9 lakh per student, but BHU gets Rs 6.15 lakh. Jamia and AMU have consistently performed well in national rankings. With the right support, universities could be globally renowned. But for that, Modi must stop discriminating against them,” Owaisi said.

He pointed out that AMU’s Kishanganj centre has been languishing for the past many years. This must also be addressed urgently and the Centre should begin working as soon as possible, he added.